Yet what can the more
fortunate individual do in the matter? If all the rich men in
England were to resign to-morrow all the wealth they possessed,
reserving only a bare modicum of subsistence, the matter could not
be amended. Even that wealth could not be wisely applied; and, if
equally divided, it would hardly make any appreciable difference.
What is worse, it would not alter the baneful influences in the
least; it would give no increased security of material conditions,
and it would not affect the point at issue, namely, the tone and
quality of thought and feeling, where the only hope of real
amelioration lies, and which is really the source and root of our
social evils.
Moreover, the real difficulty is not to see what the classes on
whom the problem presses most grimly NEED, but what they WANT. It
is no use theorising about it, and providing elegant remedies which
will not touch the evil. What one requires to know is what those
natures, who lie buried in this weltering tide, and are
dissatisfied and tormented by it, really desire. It is no use
trying to provide a paradise on the farther bank of the river, till
we have constructed bridges to cross the gulf. What one wants is
that some one from the darkness of the other side should speak
articulately and boldly what they claim, what they could use.
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